Pages

Abandoned, 2-year-old battles for life in ICU

The two-year-old child who had been abandoned is suffering from severe head injuries, the brain has suffered permanent damage, the arms are broken, the cheeks branded with hot iron, had had two cardiac arrests in the last three days.

The two-year-old who had been abandoned, with human-bite marks all over her body is waging a lonely battle for her life at the Neurosurgery Intensive Care Unit of the AIIMS trauma centre.

She was brought in on January 18 by a teenage girl, who claimed to be her mother. The moblie phone number which she gave is currently switched off. The address which she gave turned out to be the address of a paying guest accommodation in Southwest Delhi.

She told the hospital authorities that the baby, who flits in and out of consciousness and is on ventilator support, was injured in a fall from the bed.

The nature of injuries which needed urgent surgeries did not backed what she claimed.

Dr. Deepak Agarwal, a neurosurgeon in the traumtic centre said that the injuries suggest that the baby was battered mercilessly, with her head smashed probably against a wall.

A social worker, who volunteers at the hospital said that the behaviour of the mother raised suspicion. The girl who claimed herself as the mother did not looked more than 15 years age and she herself seemed confused about the baby's age. She could not answer any queries about the baby satisfactorily.

The hospital informed the police, who presented the girl to the Child Welfare Committee. She has been sent to juvenile home. The police have registered a case but have not been able to trace the baby's parent or family.

Dr. Agarwal said that the baby still surviving severe injuries, there is still 50% chance for her survival.